Safety is on everyone's mind now. The Boston Marathon attacks have reminded us of terrorism's incredible randomness and cruelty, of the helplessness and fear that follow from not knowing what may come next. Monday's arrest by the RCMP of two individuals who were allegedly planning out a terrorist...

I remember the scene like it was yesterday. My friend Brian and I had taken a break from helping to construct a school in rural Uganda. We were seated with a handful of male villagers and Segawa, the director of the Kampala-based orphanage and community organization we were volunteering with....

When Toronto's history is written, the chapter on the present era should be titled "The Lost Years."

The world is changing rapidly. Around the globe cities are being built, reinvented and redefined. New identities are being forged and pride is growing as cities challenge themselves and their inhabitants to...

A story is recycling itself. A provincial legislature attempts to make its schools safer and more inclusive, and religious individuals claim that the sky is falling and their freedoms are being eroded.

It is a seemingly never-ending struggle about how to protect all of God's children from people who believe...

It is the deadliest conflict since World War II, the epicentre has been called the "rape capital of the world," and it has produced a long list of accused before the International Criminal Court charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is...

I think of myself when I was young, an impressionable teenager searching for that role model we all seek out during those important years. I never turned to religion. It was a part of me, but theology and my faith didn't define me.

For whatever reason, it never bothered...

Adel Benhmuda is owed an apology from this country, as are his wife, Aisha, and their four children.

Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, doesn't have a long record of handing out apologies. Proud of his ministry and bureaucrats, more often than not he is

It's not everyday where locals in a foreign land greet visitors by welcoming them to the middle of nowhere. But I was in the middle of nowhere, the most middle of nowhere I'd ever been, in a village without power, without anything but mud really, in 110 degree heat, talking...

My first-grade teachers were Mrs. O (because Osplak was deemed too difficult to pronounce) and Mrs. Unterman. Grade two was Mrs. O again, and Mrs. Dror. Grade three, Mrs. Sender and Mrs. Brenner. In grade four I had Mrs. Schechter and Mrs. Werner.

If I ever thought about them keeping...

One of the most interesting fallouts from the recent Palestinian victory at the United Nations is the spotlight on the International Criminal Court. Statements coming out of Ottawa and Washington have paint the prospect of Palestinian membership in the ICC, which it is now entitled to...

I'm very fortunate that those close to me and I are in good health, free from life-threatening and other serious diseases. Should something befall any of us, we are also lucky to live in a country where we have access to high-quality health care.

Yet, I'm starting to realize...

Confession -- I didn't vote; I couldn't vote. But I wanted to.

Like so many others around the world, I've spent my (young) adult life obsessing over American politics. I grew up watching the West Wing and imagined myself working in President Bartlet's White House. I spent my...

Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of Uganda's parliament, wants to be Che Guevara, but she's not. She's nothing close.

On an official visit to Canada last week, the speaker found herself in a bit of a tiff with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. In a discussion on "Citizenship,...

Can victimhood be restrictive regardless of suffering and pain? At what point do larger circumstances revoke one's status as a victim? And to what extent do those circumstances deny universal rights to an individual or group?

These are not abstract questions. Their answers reflect our understanding of core beliefs and...

The opening of the UN General Assembly is taking place before us. It is a grand opportunity, a chance to challenge one's own nation and the international community at large to be better, to be more cooperative, to be more just and to be more moral. And it is a...

Nobody can be sure what the growing conflict between Iran and the West will lead to. Speculation over a possible Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear sites is precisely that, no matter how informed.

The analysis over pros and cons of striking Iran are endless. Will Israelis and the West...

It was a remarkable scene. Uganda, the African country that has become the flashpoint for gay rights on the continent, held its very first gay-pride earlier this month. Made up of film-screenings, a drag fashion show, parties, and of course, a parade, Uganda's gay pride is a testament...

It only took one sentence to undo international law, conventional wisdom and the basis for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians: "Israelis have the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria and the establishment of settlements cannot, in and of itself, be considered illegal." Thus spoke...

Hindsight is everything. At the time, arming Afghanistan's mujahideen to fight the Soviets may have seemed like a good idea to some. In retrospect, facilitating fanatical Islamists in their fight to push out the Soviets might not have been the best course of action.

What if I told you...

Toronto City Council has confirmed that the 2012 Pride Week will not be deprived of its funding despite the intention of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) to march in the parade.

They have the right to march, so let them.

Not wanting to grant them more...